


A Christmas Boyfriend

by CheezLord12



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Christmas, Fluff, I don’t know what the goose thing is, M/M, New Years, Perciver - Freeform, Please forgive Percy he’s not great with emotions, do you?, fake dating au, titles are the bane of my existence
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-02
Updated: 2021-01-02
Packaged: 2021-03-10 20:47:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,285
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28493358
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CheezLord12/pseuds/CheezLord12
Summary: When Oliver is convinced (blackmailed) into pretending to be Percy’s boyfriend for Christmas, will something else bloom between the two friends?
Relationships: Percy Weasley/Oliver Wood
Comments: 2
Kudos: 115





	A Christmas Boyfriend

"Please!" Percy exclaimed. Oliver looked at him again, trying to fight the blush rising in his cheeks.

"You're mad." he said. "Maybe you should lay off the drinks, mate."

Percy scoffed. "I've had a single  _ seltzer water, _ Oliver. I'm completely sober. Please."

"No, I'm not going to—" the suggestion was so preposterous that Oliver cut off, glancing away from Percy. It wasn't like he wasn't willing to do Percy a favor, but this favor was just... too much. "Penny, how's the new job?" Oliver asked quickly, trying to turn Percy's attention away from him.

Penny, unfortunately, was actually drunk, and didn't hear Oliver over her slurred rendition of Madonna's  _ Like A Virgin. _

Percy  _ tsked _ . "Oliver, stop trying to distract me, it's not going to work—"  _ Damn. _ "—just consider it, will you? You already said your parents will be on holiday in France, so it's not as if you have any plans. You won't have to spend Christmas alone!"

Oliver opened his mouth to protest that he had many plans, he had all the plans, but quickly closed it when he realized that watching rugby and baking cookies by himself probably didn't count as  _ plans _ to Percy.

Oliver glanced around helplessly. The rest of the group were in similar states of drunkeness as Penelope. Oliver was the evening's designated driver, and Percy was too stuck up to drink, so they were the only coherent ones left.

"Percy," Oliver said, trying to be as tactful as possible. "I'm not going to pretend to be your—" Oliver glanced around. " _ —boyfriend _ just so your mum won't bother you. That's horrible, not to mention, very likely to go wrong."

Percy sighed, massaging his temples. "Alright, Oliver. I didn't want to do this, but since you're being so very unreasonable—" Oliver scoffed. He was being unreasonable? "—I'll have to play the goose card."

_ Goose card?  _ Oliver thought, wracking his brains. He stiffened, looking at Percy with wide eyes as he realized what Percy was talking about. "You know about the... goose thing?" Oliver hissed. "How?"

"Penny's not the most secretive drunk." Percy said, raising an eyebrow at Penelope, who was still singing. "I can't believe you actually—"

Oliver cut him off with a groan and dropped his head into his hands. "Okay, listen. I'll do the... this fake boyfriend thing if you promise not to tell anyone about the goose thing." He lowered his voice to a whisper as he said the final words, glancing around suspiciously.

Percy's face split into a satisfied grin that was surprisingly attractive, and Oliver—

Wait.

Attractive?

Oliver glanced down to his water, checking that he hand't accidently picked up someone elses drink, because impaired senses were the only possible reason that he would  _ ever  _ think that about Percy's stupid grin, which he wore far to often, but also not nearly enough.

Oliver shook his head, clearing his thoughts. "We... should probably get going before one of them dies of alcohol poisoning." he said, jerking his head at his and Percy's friends, who'd all joined Penelope in her concert, and were attracting nasty glares from the other patrons of the pub.

Percy nodded. "Of course." he drained his glass and slid off his chair, pulling on his coat and scarf. Oliver followed suit and they didn't talk as they guided—more like carried, really—their friends to Oliver's car.

Thankfully, Percy's flat was the first stop, and Oliver was able to stop glancing at his hair—had it always been that fiery?—before waving him goodbye.

"I'll text you the details." Percy promised, shutting the door. Oliver tried to look displeased, but he couldn't help the small smile that twitched up his lips as he pulled away and turned at the end of the street.

~

Oliver found himself at Percy's flat once more the next week, tapping the steering wheel nervously as he bored holes into the building with his eyes. Finally, the door opened and Percy stepped out, red hair bobbing as he locked the door and hurried down the path against the cold wind.

"Happy Christmas." Oliver greeted as Percy closed the door.

"Happy Christmas Eve." Percy corrected, rubbing his hands. "Sorry I'm late, I had trouble finding my shirt."

Oliver shifted uncomfortably, looking down at his patented fancy shirt, which he wore to any event where jeans and a hoodie were considered inappropriate. Should he have put more effort into his appearance?

"I like your shirt." Percy said, his eyes tracing Oliver's dark blue button down as he pulled off his coat to reveal his own red button down. Oliver didn't know why he was spending so much time watching Percy roll up the sleeves. It was very interesting, watching Percy roll up his sleeves.

Oliver shook the thought out of his head as he pulled away from the building and into traffic.

They chatted easily for the first twenty minutes of the car ride about little things, making small talk, Oliver only half paying attention. Finally, there was a lull in the conversation, and Oliver took his opportunity.

"Can I ask you something? It's fine if you don't want to answer."

Percy's response was hesitant "Alright."

"Why do you have to pretend to have a boyfriend?"

A beat of silence passed, and Oliver felt himself filling with regret. He opened his mouth to say something, anything to dispel the awkwardness, when Percy spoke.

"Well, it's like I said." Percy explained. "My mum's a bit obsessed with getting all of her children married. Last Christmas, I was to only one that showed up without a date, and she hounded me the entire time."

Oliver glanced to his side and saw Percy making an unpleasant face. "I asked my siblings, and about half of them said their dates were just friends doing favors."

Oliver chuckled. "How many siblings do you have anyway?"

"Oh, I haven't told you? Six." Percy said quickly. "Five brothers and one sister."

Oliver coughed loudly. "Come again?"

"Six." Percy said. "Bill, Charlie, me, Fred, George, Ron, and Ginny."

Oliver released a breath. "That's... quite a bit."

"Yes, it's quite crowded." Percy agreed.

"Huh." Oliver responded simply.

The drive lasted another twenty minutes, Oliver fiddling around with the radio until he found a talk show, which they listened to in silence.

~

"Percy!" The sitting room chorused as Percy and Oliver were led in by Molly Weasley, who'd answered the door.

"Hello." Percy said, accepting the hugs and handshakes that were offered to him by the assortment of people. "Everyone, this is my boyfriend, Oliver."

Oliver might've been imagining it, but he felt that there was a small moment of shocked silence before the conversation picked up once again, people glancing at one another.

A man who looked to be about the same age as Oliver pushed his way forward. "Hello there, Oliver. My name is Fred. Nice to meet you. So, how'd you meet my lovely brother here?"

Oliver cleared his throat, glancing at Percy, mentally going over the story they'd prepared. "We were introduced by mutual friends." 

To be fair, the story they'd prepared wasn't the most elaborate one.

Fred nodded. "Percy, I didn't know that accountants like you had friends. How do you make them, by hanging around the plain porridge section in the grocery store?" He guffawed.

Oliver could tell that it was all in good fun and Fred didn't mean anything by it, but he still felt a small spark of indignation in his chest. "Actually, I'm a rugby player. For Puddlemere United, have you heard of it?"

It was a trick question. Of course they'd heard of Puddlemere, everyone had heard of Puddlemere. Fred's eyes went wide. "Blimey, really?" He glanced back and forth between Oliver and Percy quickly, as if trying to find some sort of connection.

Oliver was tugged away quickly, and was soon being peppered with questions about everything from his teammates to what color the locker rooms were painted. He glanced at Percy as he was being pulled away, and felt his heart skip a beat when he saw the small, grateful, smile on his face.

Dinner was equally hectic, Bill arriving with his wife and daughters only a few minutes before they started, muttering wildly about nappies and packing and pacifiers. He, too, was very interested in Oliver and his career.

"I probably should have warned you." Percy whispered to him as he cut his ham into precise pieces. "My family are pretty big fans of rugby."

Oliver tore his eyes away from Percy's lithe fingers, which were wrapped around the knife and fork in a way that made Oliver want to lace his own fingers in them. "You don't say." he muttered back. "It's alright, my ego needed some inflating."

Percy snorted and kicked Oliver under the table.

As Christmas Eve trickled away, the large family moved to the sitting room once more with mugs of cocoa and some old Christmas movie playing in the back as everyone curled up with sweaters and fluffy blankets.

"Charlie, would you hand me that blanket?" Percy asked, setting his mug down.

Charlie glared at Percy from under his blanket. "No, if I move, I'll ruin my position and I won't ever be this comfortable. Can't you just share with Oliver?"

Oliver instinctively gripped his blanket tighter, but loosened his grip when he realized he had to keep up the facade. He lifted the blanket, raising an eyebrow at Percy. "Come one in." he offered.

Percy was fiddling very intensely with a thread on the end of his sleeve, but he glanced at Charlie watching them expectantly and moved over, pressing against Oliver as he slid into the blanket.

Charlie smirked. "See, that wasn't so bad, now was it?"

Percy simply scowled and sipped his cocoa, not responding, but Oliver found himself agreeing with Charlie. Sitting curled up with Percy on the sofa wasn't so bad. It wasn't so bad at all.

~

"It's fine, really." Percy said again. "I am blackmailing you and all."

That was true, but it was no reason for Percy to have to sleep on the floor. "Really, I insist." Oliver said, surprised by his formal tone. "It is your house. You should take the bed."

Percy sighed. "This is ridiculous. Just take the bed, Oliver. It's fine."

Oliver pursed his lips. It would be terrible manners, but Percy was asking so earnestly, and the bed really did look nice and warm. "Fine." He swung himself onto the bed and curled up, shutting his eyes and falling asleep easily.

He was woken hours later by a rustling at his side. He blinked rapidly, trying to see through the pitch darkness. "Percy?" he asked.

"Shhhhhhhhhh. I'm cold." Percy said back, exhaustion coloring his voice.

Oliver moved over a litte, feeling the bed dip as Percy relaxed next to him, his arm just brushing against Oliver's. He closed his eyes again, but he found he couldn't calm down at all because Percy was  _ right there _ , just breathing like everything was normal.

Oliver tried to move over a little and put some space between them, but he couldn't do it without falling off the bed so he finally grew still. Oliver tried to fall asleep for the next hour, even as Percy's breath evened and deepened. His heart nearly stopped when Percy moved in his sleep, his leg ending up on top of Oliver's.

Finally, exhaustion won out and Oliver fell into a restless sleep.

~

The next morning, Oliver woke to find Percy much closer to him than he remembered from the night before, his curly hair tickling Oliver's chin.

Oliver carefully extricated himself from Percy, trying not to wake him. Unfortunately, he failed, and Percy blinked awake wearily. His eyes darted around the room as his hand grabbed at the bedside table for his glasses.

Finally, he found them and slid them on, taking in the scene. "What time is it?" he asked, his voice dry.

Oliver leaned down to pull his phone from his bag. "Eight fourteen."

Percy nodded. "Usually, people aren't awake until eight thirty." he seemed to realize something and he drew his legs to himself, his shirt riding up a little to reveal a freckled midsection. Not that Oliver was looking.

Oliver crossed his own legs, sitting on the bed so he was facing Percy, putting some space between them. He didn't know what it was. Maybe it was the soft morning light, diffused by the curtains. Maybe it was Percy's wild hair, sticking up to one side. Maybe it was the way Percy's lips formed an  _ o _ as he yawned, quickly covering his mouth.

Maybe it was even a combination of them all, but Oliver found himself looking into Percy's eyes, which had been turned amber by the sunlight. Oliver leaned forward to get a better look.

So did Percy.

Oliver hesitated just a little bit right before their lips met, the small logical part of his brain telling him this was a terrible idea. Before that part of his brain could influence him anymore, Percy had closed the gap and they were kissing.

All thoughts having anything to do with logic flew out of Oliver's head as the fireworks went off in his chest. Percy somehow tasted like mint, despite having just woken up, and Oliver couldn't get enough of it.

Oliver ran a hand through Percy's hair, the curls and tangles thoroughly capturing his hand, not that he minded. Finally, Percy pulled away, ending the kiss. They stared at each other, Oliver's hand still in Percy's hair, Percy's hand on Oliver's waist—when had that happened?—and both of them pink cheeked and heaving.

Oliver tried to decipher the expression on Percy's face. He looked shocked, and was that... regret? Before he could say anything, a sharp knock on the door startled them both. They leaned away from each other, the spell broken. Percy looked away and turned to the door, cracking it open.

"Okay, we'll be down in a minute." Percy said, closing the door. He turned to Oliver. "Breakfast is ready. We should... go down."

Oliver felt his heart drop, but he ignored it and nodded. "Sure." his voice came out unsteady and breathless. He cleared his throat quickly. "Sure, let's go."

As soon as they were downstairs, they were seperated and before he knew it, an hour had passed and Oliver was still mentally reeling. He spent the day simply going through the motions, laughing when others laughed, joining the rugby game, and answering an endless stream of questions about his job. No matter how many times he tried, he couldn't get any alone time with Percy. It was almost like Percy was avoiding him.

Finally, after lunch, they were sent back upstairs to pack, as everyone would be leaving soon. As soon as Percy had closed the door to their room, Oliver turned to him expectantly. But Percy just kept on folding his clothes carefully, smoothing out the wrinkles. He seemed to sense Oliver's gaze and looked up.

"Yes?"

Oliver cocked an eyebrow. "Aren't we going to talk?"

"About what?" Percy's voice was perfectly even, too even to be natural.

Oliver rolled his eyes. "About how we kissed, Percy."

"Oh." Percy cleared his throat. "That was... just a mistake, Oliver. Forget about it."

Oliver stepped back, feeling his heart drop to his shoes. So it had been regret he'd seen in Percy's face. He cleared his throat, trying to dispel the lump. "Okay. Right, I'll just forget about it."

"Good." Percy said back quickly, turning away and bending over his shirt once more. Oliver thought he detected a slight tremor in Percy's hand, but it was as gone as soon as he thought he'd imagined it.

~

Oliver slammed the car door shut with perhaps more force than necessary, ignoring how Percy flinched at the loud noise. His eyebrows drawn together, Oliver jammed the key into the ignition and started the car, keeping his eyes focused on the road as they drove away from the burrow.

The entire drive was one of the most torturous Oliver had ever experienced. No matter how many times Oliver turned the dial, there was nothing interesting to listen to on the radio, so they sat in icy silence.

Halfway through the ride, Oliver even had to pull into a gas station, pretending to need to use the bathroom, just to get away from the stifling tension.

He felt like a huge weight was lifting off his chest as he finally pulled onto Percy's street, his building coming into view. Still, as Percy climbed out the car, Oliver felt a small squeeze in his heart. "See you at New Years party, then." Oliver said stiffly.

"I probably won't be going." Percy said tightly. Before Oliver could even open his mouth to respond, there was a slight breeze and the door slammed shut.

~

The week had been... unsettling. Oliver couldn't seem to stop thinking about Percy, no matter how hard he tried. It wasn't like the concept of Percy was new to him. They'd been friends for nearly a year, ever since Oliver had been invited to join Penelope and some of her friends, including Percy, for drinks.

Still, something had changed fundamentally and Percy was no longer the slightly stuck up accountant that Oliver had previously seen him as. Now, all Oliver could think about was how his hair was even more curly in the morning, how his freckles stood out against his pale skin, the way he looked at his younger siblings with love in his eyes.

Penelope clapped him on the back. "Ready for the countdown?" she yelled, her voice barely audible over the loud music.

Oliver pasted a smile to his face and nodded. "Yes!" he yelled back. "Who are you going to kiss?"

Penelope laughed. "Marcus, of course. What about you?"

Oliver rolled his eyes. "No one. I am boyfriendless." 

Penelope laughed. "I think the point of the New Years kiss is to get you a boyfriend, Ollie!"

Oliver wrinkled his nose. "Do  _ not _ call me that." he warned. She simply giggled, shrugged, and floated off, draining a hot pink drink.

He kept his eyes glued to the large screen at the side of the room, watching as it ticked down to one minute left, scanning the crowd as people not-so-subtly paired up, starting to chant along with the screen.

"Ten!" they yelled.

Oliver thought he saw a flash of red hair in the corner of his eyes, but he blinked and it was gone.

"Nine!"

Oliver felt someone tap his shoulder.

"Eight!"

Oliver spun around to see Percy.

"Seven!"

"I thought you weren't coming." Oliver said, glancing up at the screen.

"Six!"

"I changed my mind." Percy responded, licking his lips.

"Five!"

"Why?" Oliver asked.

"Four!"

"There's something I wanted to do." Percy explained, leaning forward so Oliver could hear him properly.

"Three!"

Oliver felt his heartbeat pick up, Could he mean..? No, he'd made it clear he didn't want that.

"Two!"

"What did you want to do?" Oliver asked, hardly daring to move.

"One!"

"This."

As the crowded room screamed "Happy New Year!" Percy leaned forward and kissed Oliver, confetti and balloons erupting all around them. Oliver didn't register any of the loud noises or decorations because all he could think about was the way Percy was moving his lips against Oliver’s, how he was being wrapped up in his arms, how Percy smiled against him as Oliver hesitantly cupped Percy's face with his hand.

They broke apart, Percy grinning madly, not a trace of regret on his face. "Happy New Year." he whispered, resting his forehead on Oliver's.

Oliver flicked a piece of confetti from Percy's shoulder. "Happy New Year."


End file.
